The Quarter Queen

A Novel

De: Kayla Hardy

A Voodoo witch must navigate a magically and racially divided nineteenth century New Orleans to save her mother—and the soul of the city itself—in this lush debut novel inspired by the life of Marie Laveau.

In 1843 New Orleans, the reigning Voodoo queen is Marie Laveau, feared by her enemies and followers alike. Her daughter, Marie "Ree" Laveau the Second, is everything her cutthroat and principled mother is not—spoiled and entitled, with a wickedly rebellious streak—and defies her mother at every turn. But Ree’s world is turned upside down when she finds Marie comatose in the bayou, cursed by exiled Voodoo king Jon the Conjurer—Marie’s former teacher, lover, and greatest enemy.

As Marie hovers on the brink of death, Ree races to uncover the secrets of her mother’s life in search of a cure and gradually uncovers a web of alliances, dangers, and deception. What’s worse, Henryk Broussard, Ree’s long-missing childhood best friend, returns as a witch hunter of the Church, tasked with investigating her. With so many enemies circling, including a puritanical-minded Brotherhood of alchemists and the slave-holding mayor of the city, Ree must confront the past and face her mother’s demons that have now become her own—or die trying.

Told in alternating timelines between Ree in the present and Marie’s rise to power twenty-five years earlier, The Quarter Queen is an intimate yet epic portrait of a mother and daughter who have struggled all their lives to understand one another, and a captivating exploration of racism, family, and womanhood.

Reseñas de la Crítica

“You had me at nineteenth-century New Orleans mysticism. Hardy deftly depicts a world populated by characters with as much texture and patina as the city it’s set in. The prose is so lush, it brings a sensual beauty to even the most macabre moments. The Quarter Queen’s meditation on maternal legacy and political intrigue, flavored with a heaping spoonful of Creole Voodoo, is truly something special.”—Todd Harris, creator of Eyes of Wakanda

“The Quarter Queen is a delight. It is the sort of book I read slowly because such novels are few and far between these days. Kayla Hardy is an incredible talent—a gifted storyteller with rich, generous, bold prose. Utterly fearless.”—Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi, author of A Girl Is a Body of Water

“A vibrant and dazzling historical fantasy that brings New Orleans to magical, menacing life through the eyes of a mother and daughter who must fight to survive and triumph over the powerful forces arrayed against them. This rich and absorbing novel captivated me from the first page to the last.”—Jennifer Saint, bestselling author of Ariadne